Copyright of Sindie, 1995

I went to sleep that night with a weird feeling, a feeling like something unusual was going to occur.

During the middle of the night, I heard something moving around in my room. Quickly, I hopped to the light switch and turned on the light.

I couldn't believe my eyes. What I saw had to be a dream.

"Oh, my gosh!" I exclaimed.

"Where are we?" asked a face I had seen before.

"Wait a minute," I began, "I know who you guys are."

"You do? How?"

"You're cartoons, and you're famous!" I shouted excitedly. "You're Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie, Abu, Iago, and Carpet."

"Famous?" Aladdin said, puzzled.

"Cartoons?" asked Jasmine.

"Yeah, of course," I said calmly. "Maybe I should explain. You see, I know what you don't understand. In my world, this world, we draw people, animals, or any other characters we want and make animated motion pictures out of them. I know you because I have seen you before on TV."

"Now I'm more confused than ever!" they yelled.

"You still didn't answer my question about where we are," replied Iago.

"This is Earth. You also live on Earth, but a cartoon Earth. Notice how different things look here than from where you're from. A big difference is that there's no such thing as magic here."

"No magic?" Genie replied.

"Yes, you won't have to worry about any men like Jafar trying to kill you with magic. All you have to do is relax."

"I like the sound of that," said Iago.

"You should. All you need is right here, so just relax and go to sleep. Iago, come here."

"What?"

"You can lie on my bed. Good night, everyone," I said.

I turned off the lights and lay down next to Iago.

"How come you wanted me to sleep by you?" he asked.

"Because I want to talk to you."

"Well, get on with it."

"Iago, you were always my favorite. I have reasons for that, too. You are a very brave bird to have risked your life to destroy Jafar. To me, you were never that bad. I think something's in your way, though. Greed seems to overtake you at times. However, you won't have to let that happen here. Everything you need is right here. You can just relax and never have to yell again. I want you to know that love is more important than any treasure in the world. I wouldn't let anything happen to you or anyone else if I could help it."

"Do you really mean that? No one's ever made me realize that. I feel so guilty now for the way I've acted, but I feel good about myself. What's your name?"

"My name is Cyndi."

"Thank you. Good night."

"Good night," I whispered and hugged him gently.

I fell asleep that night stroking Iago's feathers softly.

The sun shone through the window the next morning when I opened my eyes. What a beautiful day it was.

"It's morning!" I cheerfully exclaimed. "Time to wake up!"

They all woke up and stretched.

"Oh, that's right," said Aladdin. "I forgot we were here."

"So did I," added Jasmine.

"There's something I have to tell you all," I began. "Last night I told you how you just have to relax around here. Well, this world's not that great either. Things happen here that are so much worse than where you are from. War, hate, murders, and starvation happen, but we still are like you because we think and feel the same you do. We also cry, laugh, smile, and yell. Does that help you at all?"

"Yes, but how did we get here?" asked Aladdin.

"That I cannot answer for you," I replied.

"Then how will we ever get out of here?" questioned Jasmine frantically.

"I don't know."

"Hey, Iago's been quiet," said Genie. "What's with him?"

"Nothing, really," I said. "I just told him last night that love was more important than any other treasure."

"Is that true, Iago?" Aladdin asked him.

"Yes, it is," Iago replied. "Cyndi is unlike anyone I have ever met. She has a way with others. Her words just seem to make sense and solve problems."

"So that's your name!" exclaimed Jasmine.

"How do you do that?" Aladdin asked.

"Well, I guess since there's no magic like Genie's magic, then there's magic in what people say."

"That's...that's amazing!" replied Aladdin.

"I agree. Iago's so different. He's no longer that annoying, loud-mouth parrot," added Genie.

"Iago just was hiding the real him," I simply replied. "He is a very unique individual. Besides, everyone has it in them."

"I guess you're right," mumbled Aladdin.

"Well, I began, I have to go out for a while. You can go anywhere in the house, but you can't go outside, okay?"

"Right," they said back.

When I cam home later that day, I didn't come home to a pretty sight. Abu and Iago were fighting. Before I could do anything, Abu threw Iago into my closet.

"Abu!" I exclaimed in disgust. "You should be ashamed of yourself! Look what you've done!"

Iago was knocked out. It wasn't a pretty sight to see him lying there, helpless.

I lay him on my bed and put the cover over him. Hopefully, he would come around soon.

"How did this happen?" I asked.

"Iago said something nasty to Abu, and Abu didn't like it very much," replied Aladdin.

"Great! Just great!" I shouted. "I should have known! They always fight! Well, I'm going to have a word with Iago once he wake up. No more sweet talk from me!"

"I've never seen you like this," said Jasmine.

"Well, this is how I am! I can be the rudest, meanest, and most arrogant person you ever met! If you think Iago can't control his temper, then I'm ten times worse! No one messes with me!"

Iago woke up that second after I got done yelling.

"What's all this noise for?" he screamed.

"NOISE!" I screamed even louder. "You ain't heard noise! We need to talk! I tried to talk to you last night. You were fine until I left the scene. If I can control my temper, and I can be nice, then so can you!"

"Oh, yeah!" he bellowed back. "We'll just see about that!"

"Oh, really! Maybe you don't get it! I could beat you any day in a fight!"

I raised my hand and hit him so hard that he flew across the room and hit the wall. He was knocked out again.

"Oh, my gosh!" I exclaimed. "What have I done? Oh, this is all of my fault."

I knew I would regret my actions. I'm just like that. Now I felt so incredibly guilty. Without any control, I began to cry.

"Cyndi," said Aladdin, "these kinds of things happen. At least you regret things."

"Yeah," added Genie. "Iago hardly ever does."

"I'm so sorry," I murmured in tears. "If you don't mind, I would like to be alone with Iago, please."

Everyone left the room. I walked over to where Iago lie. I again picked him up and put him on my bed.

I rested my head on the bed and cried more. Finally, Iago came around.

"Oh, my head," he said painfully.

I looked up and said, "Oh, Iago, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that. It's just that..."

"Wait," he said, "I understand what you mean."

"You do?"

"Of course."

"Will you be okay?"

"I guess so."

"The things I said last night were true. I really meant them."

"So do I," he replied.

I hugged him gently and kissed the top of his head.

Soon I fell asleep. The next morning when I woke up, he was gone. They were nowhere.

It seems I must have just been someone to guide Iago along.